Frances & Kenneth Bailie Endowed Scholarship

On September 1, 2021, two beloved Iona University professors were lost in the devastating effects of Hurricane Ida. Fran and Ken Bailie, professors of Computer Science, will forever be remembered for the dedication, enthusiasm and commitment they showed in their classrooms and throughout the College. Their zeal for teaching and passion for helping students excel inside and outside of the classroom has left an indelible mark on all who came in contact with them.

As chair of the Computer Science Department, Professor Fran Bailie, Ph.D., was instrumental in crafting a dynamic array of programs that stayed current with the changing dimensions of computer science. This included making Game Development and Cyber Security – two highly in demand fields – available as concentrations as well as helping spearhead the new interdisciplinary minor in Data Science. Throughout all of her work, she was especially proud of making sure her faculty remained student-oriented and always made time to work one-on-one with students.

In addition to her many contributions to the Computer Science department, throughout her career Dr. Bailie found ways to help Iona students campus wide. This included serving as director of the Honors Program, a member of the Core Curriculum Committee and helping to pilot learning communities. When she served as advising director, she took special care to make sure that all incoming freshmen were set up with a schedule tailored for success.

In 2012, Dr. Bailie was a Woman of Achievement awardee, thus solidifying her position as a role model for all who followed her. She cared deeply about her colleagues, especially the female faculty who came up behind her, and never forgot what it was like for her as a working mother. A deeply spiritual person, Dr. Bailie was centered around service to others. In an interview for the College she noted that “People don't think of computer science as being a service-oriented discipline, but really it is. We do things to help everyone. It is wonderful to see our students enter [various] fields…to not only help themselves to a wonderful career, but to help other people as well and society as a whole.”

Ken Bailie began his professional career teaching mathematics at Ladycliff College in Highland Falls, New York. After three years of teaching, he was hired by IBM as a programmer and went on to have a very successful forty-year career there in various technical, management, and business positions. Upon retiring as an executive from IBM, Ken followed his beloved wife into the classroom to teach Computer Science as an adjunct professor at Iona. Like his wife, he loved being in the classroom and sharing his experience with his students. Both Ken and Dr. Bailie helped many Iona students find internships and permanent employment at IBM through their connections there.